


An End, With a Beginning

by ValkyrieofArdyn



Series: Ardyn's Happy Ending AU [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Death, Drabble, Established Relationship, F/M, Female Reader, POV Female Character, Reincarnation, happy ending for Ardyn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 09:23:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15409848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ValkyrieofArdyn/pseuds/ValkyrieofArdyn
Summary: Settings surrounding chapter:The reader is a reincarnation of Ardyn’s wife, who up to this point died in an unknown way two thousand years ago.  Location is Gralea in Zagnautus Keep, just when everything is falling apart with daemon outbreaks. You (reader) are left in his office, while he (Ardyn) is gone on an unknown errand.  While pondering if you should pursue Ardyn, Ravus discovers you, while he was looking for Ardyn. He takes revenge on Ardyn by stabbing you in the stomach and leaving you for dead, just as Ardyn had with his sister. Ravus was all too happy to take away the chancellor’s beloved.





	An End, With a Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> When first posted March 2017 on Tumblr:  
> Hello, my fellow Ardyn lovers! This is the ending chapter of an Ardyn fan fiction that has progressively taken over my brain. Not sure if I will ever write the other chapters out, (Update: I did write a story based from this) but I had to type this one out since it was on repeat in my head. I am so gracious @breath0ftheglacian for her collaboration in helping me make the flow and feel of the chapter soooo much better :-) This chapter is full of angsty feelings, with a happy ending. 
> 
> July/23/18: This is the fic that inspired me to write Unveiled, so it could be considered an alternate ending. AU within a AU. ;-) *I have not edited since then. Don't judge. lol*

 

 

 

You finally understood the role the Gods had placed you in - all the signs along the way, and those Gentiana eluded to you - it all was crystal clear.

    As you lay on the floor, your shirt soaking up the blood that you desperately tried to stop from flowing out, a vision of a past memory occurred: you were in the Insomnia throne room. But it looked different compared to your last audience with King Regis and at the same time familiar; you knew instinctively that this was taking place in a distant past.

    The biggest difference in this throne room from the past, was the crystal sitting directly below the throne, shining brilliantly. As you took in the surroundings of the vision, you also became aware of the deep open wound in your soul. An aching chasm, something – no, someone was missing. Ardyn. He was gone, they took him. A flash of the all too familiar, recurring nightmare flared up in your vision: Ardyn being dragged away by hooded figures, while several others hold you back. Ardyn’s words rush through your head as you suddenly remember who they are, the crowns guard and his own brother. You remember and relive all of your past life in a blink of an eye. You knew why they took your beloved husband. The crystal had denied him it's blessing, he had been seen as tainted, impure, corrupt. It did not make any sense to you since the Gods had placed him on the road to heal people of the starscourge, and now he was being punished for it. The anger, hurt and shock of realizing your most trusted friends, your own flesh and blood had betrayed you and Ardyn, flared fresh within you.

    They had locked you away for a month, keeping you from pursuing him. You had been told during your imprisonment that an execution was attempted on Ardyn, but he had come back from the dead, minutes later. Upon hearing that, you had been shocked into speechlessness, your body becoming numb with the full realization of the curse besetting your husband, lover, and soulmate. Your friends and family had tried to get you to annul your marriage, to forget him. He was imprisoned on a far off island for “eternity” they said, to save the world from his darkness. Remembering their naive words makes you scoff internally. No one was able to persuade you, and you had waited patiently for your chance to escape.  You were not going leave Ardyn to his deemed fate of being the Accursed, like everyone else had.

     The evening of this vision, you had taken advantage of an absent-minded servant, and picked the lock with a stolen hairpin, managing to free yourself. You had a plan, no time could be wasted, so you had quickly made your way to the throne room, to the crystal of light. The answer had to lie within the crystal. The stories your grandmother had told you as a child, that the crystal was the heart of the Goddess Eos, the last remaining light of her soul, encouraged you to pursue the last course of action. Your plan was to go to the crystal and beseech the Goddess to help you heal Ardyn by any means. The only reservation you had with your plan was the questions every present in your mind: Why did the crystal not heal Ardyn? Could the crystal just be an inanimate object with no ability to help? What if nothing could be done to save him? You didn’t allow your mind to ponder on these thoughts for long, for they led you down a road full of despair.

    As you approached the crystal you felt the light bask over you, filling you with warmth. It made you angry; this warmth had shunned your beloved, and yet this warmth was your best bet at saving him. Pushing your anger down you spoke to the crystal.

“Goddess Eos, I am here to beg for your help and mercy. My beloved, Ardyn Lucis Caelum has been denied your light, due to taking on the daemons of others.”

If the Crystal can hear you, it does not give you any clues. The warm glow continued to caress your skin, without response.

“Please, is there nothing that can be done to save him? Can your light not cure him of his daemons?  Why is he to be ostracized for doing what was asked of him? Goddess, please help him!” Your voice broke as you ended your speech with a desperate pleading.

     As the silence lengthened you started to feel the fool, and your thoughts of doubt begin to rush forward What if this was just a crystal of magic? No goddess within, no heart to plead to. No one to help, just an inanimate object that shunned your beloved. While you sat there with thoughts swirling around, going once more into despair, you heard a faint whisper in your mind, like a distant tinkling of bells.

“Beloved of the Accursed, you can free him of his darkness and save his soul, but it will require your sacrifice.” You’re not sure if you imagined the voice, but you answered instinctively:

“Yes! I will do anything to save him from being cursed.”

  “Then enter into my light to be purified and filled with it, so that you may be able to pass it unto your beloved, when the prophesied time arrives, and thus save his soul. For he is now filled completely with darkness, and my light can not touch him, for it would destroy him. When you come forth into the world again, you will be able to place a seed of your love infused with my light within him. Thus, allowing him to be healed, when the new chosen arises and banishes the darkness. ”

   You hesitated for just a second. You know that touching the light should mean death, only the chosen King of Lucis could stay unharmed by the light. The voice did warn you that you will have to make a sacrifice, maybe that meant your death… but the voice also assured you that by doing so you would be able to save his soul. That was your goal, wasn’t it? If his curse was putting his very soul at stake, forever denying him ascension, no price was too high to pay.

   Without another thought, you took the two steps required to the crystal, and reached within, touching the light. Immediately all the cells and nerves within your body caught fire in an intense burn, causing the most excruciating pain you had ever felt. It seems to last forever, as do your screams, and then, all of a sudden, you were back in your current dying body. Once again you heard the voice of the goddess Eos:

“You have loved the Accursed once again and placed both your love for him and my light within his soul. He has also received the healing touch of the oracle. Ardyn is now able to be saved and released by the chosen king of light when the time comes. The Accursed now needs to travel the path alone once again. Come to me and await him in the beyond. Your work is now finished…”

   As the voice faded out, a sense of peace fell over you. Finally, you understood why you were reincarnated, why you and Ardyn were thrust together once again by fate, and what you had to do now. Even though it pained you to think that you would be leaving him again, you had to complete your part in this game, so that Ardyn could be relieved from his curse.

   Still bleeding heavily, you applied pressure to the wound and slowly made your way from Ardyn’s office, down the long, hollow corridors of Zegnautus keep to the crystal. There were sounds of chaos all around you, but you were able to traverse to the crystal without being held up, perhaps a final blessing from the Goddess. As you walked down the long bridge to the dimly glimmering light, you had a feeling of regret. Not being able to see Ardyn again before you left him once more was almost more than you could bear, but he may not have let you go at all if he understood your plan.  You were just about to raise your hand to enter the crystal once again when you heard his voice behind you.

    “(Y/N)! Stop! What are you doing?” His running feet stopped behind you and his hands pulled you into his chest, away from the glow. You took that moment to turn into his chest and breathe him in, savoring his presence. I love this man with all of my being… even now, as twisted as he has become by spite and hatred… you mused to yourself, your face buried into his chest. You looked up into his beautiful amber eyes, full of anxiety, and can’t help but smile with the knowledge that he would be free of this darkness that has plagued him for eons. Soon, you could be together forever.

   As you raised a hand and ran it through his hair, you winced unconsciously from the dull pain radiating in your side. Ardyn noticed, and looked you over, quickly taking note of the stab wound.

  “Who has done this?!” he asked fervently, for a second forgetting that you had just tried to commit suicide by entering the crystal.

    “It is nothing to be concerned about my love,” you replied softly touching his face. He looked at you incredulously, at a loss for words, and you couldn’t blame him. You tried your best to organize your thoughts, and explain him the situation at hand.

   “Now I know why I was reincarnated and brought to you once more. I am here to save your soul, my darling. I now remember my first life, I remember us,” you smiled stroking his cheek, almost forgetting the pain from your side. Tears streamed down your face, as you rushed on with your explanation.

“I am sorry Ardyn…. I left you 2000 years ago because I made a deal with the Goddess Eos. I entered the crystal, sacrificing my life then so that my soul could be filled with her light, and I would be able to pass it onto you at the appointed time. I did not know so much time would pass before we met again, but now… I have finally achieved my goal.”

    Ardyn’s face had slowly turned into a stony expression. His tone that could cut through steel did not surprise you:

“You left me alone, on purpose, those eons ago. Only to come back when I have been twisted by time and darkness. Oh, what a grand plan, what a great sacrifice.” He looked away from you, but you could still see the pained looked on his face.

 “My love, I am sorry that is how it worked out. But how could I refuse the offer to save you when it was given to me?”

   “And how do you think you have saved me?” he sneered, “I became truly cursed the moment I realized you were no longer in my world! I knew the moment you were gone, my last lifeline to humanity, morality, was severed from my soul. That, my darling, was the day I truly became a monster and shed my humanity. My plan of revenge for the line of Lucis Caelum came into full bloom with your loss. So, I ask again, how have you saved me?!” His eyes were on fire, filled with anger and pain.

  You were not prepared for his onslaught of guilt he was laying at your feet. You could not speak for a second and just stared at him in remorse. You would never be able to fully comprehend what he had been through for the past 2000 years. But you knew the only way to find peace with him was to move ahead with the plan.

 “By being with you for this past year. Coming to love you again, and have you receive my love by opening up your soul to me. There is a light within you now, my love, and Eos is within you. In the end, you will not perish in darkness. My time with you in this life is now complete, I have completed my task in placing a well of love within your soul. I am now to wait for you in the beyond.”

     Ardyn stared at you for a long moment, those amber eyes piercing into you again, reading your soul. Against all your expectations, he let go of you. The sudden loss of the heat from his body sent a shiver through you.

Backing away, he uttered solemnly:

“I see that you are determined to play in the game of the Gods. Do what you see fit. I have my own game to finish. It hurts me, more than you know to see you chose a path not alongside me. I hope that your plan set into play 2000 years ago comes into fruition, but if it does not… Goodbye (Y/N).” With that, he turned and walked away.

   That was probably the best card Ardyn could have played to get you to stay with him. Your heart ached as you saw his back move away. You longed for his touch, to see those eyes, to hear his voice… You almost ran after him, but the promise of his salvation kept you rooted.  Before reaching an arm back to enter the crystal you called out to him one last time.

“I do know the pain of leaving, Ardyn. Goodbye, my beloved, I will see you in the beyond.”  Watching him walk away in silence, you reached inside the glowing light. This time, entering the crystal was different – there was no pain, only warmth as the light took you in. In the last seconds, before you disappeared, you saw Ardyn turn to look at you with a face so full of anguish, you had to smile, trying to give him some comfort.

     Having seen that smile as you disappeared into the light, there were no more boundaries. Ardyn was willing to do anything to achieve his ultimate goal, making Noctis the prophesied chosen king of yore. Only then could he find peace in death, or see the end of the Lucian line. He only dared a sliver of hope in seeing you again in the beyond. Over the centuries he had learned not to trust anything the Gods promised, but he could not help but hold onto that faint hope.

    Gralea felt the brunt of Ardyn’s anger at your loss. Not a soul within the capital was spared from becoming a daemon. Ravus was unfortunate enough to try and stop Ardyn in his daemonic onslaught, bringing on his own demise. When Ravus goaded Aryn with the knowledge that it was him who had stabbed you and left you to die, he signed a fate worse than death.  

    Ardyn was ruthless with Noctis and his friends once they arrived in Gralea, toying with them, and basking in their despair. Once Noctis finally entered the crystal, and truly started down the path of becoming the chosen king, Ardyn set about to bring all the darkness to the world while he waited. The whole of Eos would know how it felt to live in the dark that had been his companion for over 2000 years.

   The 10 years that followed seemed like a long dragged out breath. It was nothing compared to waiting two millennia for the chosen, but now he had the sliver of hope that he would be able to see you again.

When Noctis finally arrived in Insomnia to claim his throne, Ardyn let the true darkness inside him show, to assure Noctis would fight him with all his fury.

   When the final blow came, delivered by the sword of the father, relief and acceptance flooded Ardyn. Finally, he would be released from his immortal prison, an escape from the companions he had held, the legions of daemons and nightmares.

As he passed into the beyond, he was disappointed to find that his immortality had yet to dissipate. But that disappointment didn’t last long. Noctis was quick to release the light’s wrath upon him. As each of the Kings of yore struck with their weapons of light, he felt the darkness, and himself dissolve, diminish, shatter until there was no more…

   Suddenly, arms were encircling him from behind. He knew these arms. Turning to face the warmth, he was greeted by your smiling face.

“Welcome, my beloved. I have been waiting for you.” Crushing his lips with a passionate kiss, Ardyn readily returned it as soon as he recovered from his shock. Finally, you had forever to bask in each other's love, as it was always meant to be.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Theme song of Ardyn’s story (deemed by me)
> 
> “Third Eye” By Florence and the Machine


End file.
